England manager Roy Hodgson was left disturbed and upset by the injury which has all but ruled Jack Butland out of Euro 2016.

The Stoke goalkeeper fractured his ankle in Saturday's 3-2 victory over Germany - just as he had been given his chance to stake a claim to become Hodgson's first-choice ahead of the summer.

Butland sustained the injury just before Toni Kroos opened the scoring in Berlin in the 43rd minute.

He had the chance to put the ball into touch to receive treatment, but chose instead to punt down field, whereby Germany claimed possession and raced forward through Real Madrid midfielder Kroos, who beat Butland with a low 25-yard shot at his near post.

The Football Association confirmed on Sunday evening that Butland had fractured his ankle and would return back to his club for further assessment and treatment.

And Hodgson, already without Joe Hart for the friendly double-header against Germany and Holland, now has Fraser Forster and Tom Heaton as his goalkeeping options for Tuesday's game against the Dutch - revealing he has yet to decide if Ben Foster could come in as the third goalkeeper for the Euros.

The 68-year-old praised Butland's strength of character to deal with the bad news and admitted the former Birmingham man will be missed in France.

"I think it is very disturbing and very upsetting for us to see someone who has worked so hard this year (get injured)," he said.

"He has had such a good season at Stoke, forced himself into a situation where many people said it was going to be a really good fight between him and Joe for the first-team shirt.

"Suddenly you get your chance against Germany and to fracture your ankle in that way is a devastating blow and we all felt sympathy for him, empathy as well of course because a lot of players have suffered injuries in their career.

"He was very strong about about it all, very stoic. He said to me he would come back stronger and said it would not affect his career in any way.

"That was good to hear and our best wishes are with him and we are all going to miss him because we were hoping he would be a part of it."

Forster replaced Butland in the Olympiastadion and will start on Tuesday night as Hodgson makes a number of changes to his starting line-up.

Fit-again Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge has been confirmed as a starter - with Hodgson wanting to see what he can do between now and the end of the Barclays Premier League season.

"He and Danny Welbeck have returned from such long-term injuries, the next six weeks or so are important times for them as well.

"They have to build up their fitness in terms of endurance, both have come back sharp so that is very positive.

"It is great that we are going to give Daniel a chance to show what he can do in an England shirt, he has always been keen to get back and show he deserves to be in the shirt and what better chance than against such opposition at Wembley?"

Do YOU want to write for GiveMeSport? Get started today by signing-up and submitting an article HERE: http://gms.to/writeforgms

Report author of article

DISCLAIMER

This article has been written by a member of the GiveMeSport Writing Academy and does not represent the views of
GiveMeSport.com or SportsNewMedia. The views and opinions expressed are solely that of the author credited at the top of this article.
GiveMeSport.com and SportsNewMedia do not take any responsibility for the content of its contributors.

Want more content like this?

Like our GiveMeSport Facebook Page and you will get this directly to you.